This archive report was first published on 13 November 2019.
Published on November 13, 2019, Hong Kong's university campuses were on high alert as students prepared for a potential showdown with police. The city's infrastructure was severely strained as protesters blocked roads and disrupted rail services, forcing commuters to choose between venturing outside and risking clashes with tear gas.
The protests, which began in June over an extradition bill that has since been withdrawn, have morphed into broader demands for democracy and police accountability. Schools and universities have become flashpoints, with students at the forefront of the movement.
On Tuesday night, riot police officers fired hundreds of rounds of tear gas at demonstrators who set a giant blaze and threw gasoline bombs at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The clash left dozens injured and sparked a wave of protests across the city.
Student demonstrators at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University, and other universities built barricades at campus entrances and dug up paving stones in preparation for a potential standoff with the police. Some protesters blocked drivers from entering a tunnel that connects Hong Kong Island with the Kowloon peninsula, which sits steps from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
The activists say they are defending their campuses from police intrusion, while the police assert that they have to stop demonstrators from blocking roads, throwing bricks, or trying to disrupt rail services.
Large groups of riot police officers disrupted a rally in the city's financial district around lunchtime on Wednesday, making multiple arrests and beating protesters with batons. Office workers in suits and ties formed a human supply chain to move water and umbrellas to the front-line protesters.
Beijing has condemned the flare-up of protest violence, warning that months of protests have pushed Hong Kong into an extremely dangerous place. The Chinese central government's Liaison Office in Hong Kong accused protesters of 'murderous conduct' and called for a return to order.
